Increasingly, digital assistants are transforming many industries–and the home improvement industry is no exception. Effective digital assistant tools are revolutionizing the ability to connect with clients, whether companies are trying to provide answers and assistance to someone who is considering a remodeling project or they want to ensure leads aren’t falling through the cracks. While digital assistants can’t step into customers’ physical home environments and swing a hammer or use a paintbrush on your behalf, digital assistants in home improvement can help with many key customer interaction processes. Take a look at how digital assistants can improve your overall productivity and increase your revenue.
1. Qualify Leads
AI-enabled digital assistants can go a long way toward allowing you to qualify leads and ensure that you are working with customers who are likely to make a purchase from your brand. As a result, you can focus your efforts on those leads. There are any number of reasons why a potential customer might visit a home improvement or remodeling brand’s website. The customer might be looking for inspiration for their next remodeling project. They might be looking for example photos. They might even be daydreaming about what’s possible, even though they are far from ready to actually launch a major project. On the other hand, some customers are ready to find a home renovation specialist positioned to help them achieve their goals–and AI can help you figure out the difference. Using digital assistants in home improvement can qualify leads.
Through the use of AI-empowered digital assistants, you can get a better idea of how leads rank and where you should focus your time and marketing efforts. As a result, your marketing dollars will stretch further, and you’ll be better prepared to guide qualified leads through your sales funnel.
2. Provide 24/7 Answers and Assistance for Your Clients
Using digital assistants in home improvement provides the customer experience consumers are looking for. Here’s why. In many cases, clients aren’t looking up information about home improvement or renovation projects during the middle of the work day. They’re checking it out on their commute home from work, or looking things up as they settle onto the couch in the evening. They’re browsing on the weekends. They may have a few minutes on their lunch break to take care of personal projects before returning to their jobs.
That means you need to be prepared to provide answers and support for your clients during those hours.
Staffing a call center or online chat solution for the entire day can be challenging and, in many cases, costly. Not only that, you’ll need to put in the time and effort to train those team members and make sure they understand the unique needs of your customers. With an AI-powered digital assistant, on the other hand, customers can easily ask their questions and get the answers they need at any time–no matter where they are or when they choose to connect with your brand. Instead of sending off emails and waiting hours–or, in some cases, days–for answers, customers can get automatic responses to their queries.
Your chatbot can direct them to the right page on your website, offer answers to their problems, or simply provide guidance as they decide what they want to take on as part of their home improvement project–all at a lower cost than physical representatives.
3. Meet Customer Demands
Customers expect businesses to cater to their needs. 96% of customers note that the customer service experience is a critical part of their loyalty to the brands they choose–and if you want them to choose your home improvement business for their remodeling needs, you need to provide that high standard of service.
As a home renovation specialist, you have a lot of demands on your time. There are some things that only the physical workers can provide–including the actual work on your customers’ properties. However, there are many things that an AI-powered digital assistant can take on for you: managing the customer journey, taking care of customer service interactions, and ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction. Your digital assistant can also facilitate connections with the actual members of your team when needed.
Knowing that they can quickly get access to the information and support they need can be a game changer for many clients. They’ll have a better overall customer experience, feel more satisfied with your brand, and have a higher degree of trust in your solutions. Customers will feel a higher degree of support and connection with your brand, even when they’re interacting with your AI solution instead of directly with the members of your team.
4. Use Digital Assistants in Home Improvement to Shorten the Sales Cycle
As a home renovation specialist, you may often feel as though you have to go through a long sales cycle to bring customers into your business and convince them to make a purchase. There are a lot of decisions that homeowners have to make before they launch a major renovation project, and many of them will spend extensive time doing research and looking into the details before they’re ready to make a purchase. It may feel as though it regularly takes months before you can bring a new customer into your business.
By using digital assistants in home improvement, however, you can significantly shorten the sales cycle in several key ways.
Better Understand Your Market
Your AI-powered digital assistant can help you better understand your target audience and your corner of the market. Not only can it offer insights into who you’re marketing to, but it can also provide more information about the type of content your specific buyers are more likely to engage with. As a result, you can create marketing materials that are more likely to spark the response you’re looking for in your buyers.
Provide Effective Information
At each stage of the sales cycle, customers need to make a choice. It starts with the discovery phase: customers are unhappy with their current home setup. They’re ready for something different. They need to decide whether they’re going to move forward with a home renovation project and, in many cases, what solutions they’re most interested in. Next, they need to decide what brand best fits their needs. They may research multiple home builders and renovation specialists to get a better idea of what’s out there and who they want to connect with. Finally, they’re ready to start making calls and gathering quotes.
With an AI digital assistant, you can learn more about what makes your customers tick: the specific information that they’re seeking before they’re ready to make a purchase. As a result, your customers can flow through the sales cycle more effectively, since they have the information they need at their fingertips.
Connect at the Right Intervals
In most cases, customers will need multiple connections with your brand before they’re ready to make a buying decision. How many will depend on how much research they’ve already done, how urgent the renovation problem is, and a number of other factors–but most of the time, a single trip to your website won’t bring on that buying decision. You’ll need to keep connecting with your customers. Unfortunately, it’s easy to lose track of your leads and allow too much time to go by before you reconnect with them, lengthening the sales cycle and even increasing the odds that your leads will decide to go with a competitor.
Your digital assistant, on the other hand, can help track the intervals at which you need to connect with your leads and make sure that those leads occur promptly, including sending out text messages and other content designed to bring leads back into the sales funnel.
5. Follow Up After a Project
Your journey with a customer doesn’t end after you complete a home renovation project for them–for several key reasons. First and foremost, you never know when a customer will be ready to launch another project. Second, satisfied customers are more likely to share information about your brand with friends and family members–and a personal recommendation substantially increases the odds that those leads will connect with your brand.
Don’t let those follow-ups fall by the wayside! Instead, use your digital assistant to connect with customers after the project is finalized. This accomplishes several key things.
1. It Ensures Customer Satisfaction
No matter how thorough you try to be with your final walkthrough, you may miss a few small elements that can decrease customer satisfaction and make them trust your brand less in the future. A follow-up connection can let you know any details you missed and give you the chance to make it right.
2. It Keeps You Top of Mind
Once the project is done, customers may not be thinking about your brand anymore. They’ve moved on to the next thing, their attention falling away. However, when you connect through a follow-up, you keep your brand at the forefront of the customer’s mind. Not only does that increase the odds that they’ll think of you for their next project, it also raises the chance that they’ll talk about you, sharing information about your efforts with their friends and family.
Get the Support of an AI Digital Assistant for Your Home Renovation Brand
Are you considering the benefits of AI-powered digital assistants in home improvement? Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help you accomplish your goals.
